Cheese: Slow Food's Festival in Bra

What Happens

The festival fills the squares, courtyards and streets of Bra. In 2025 the market ran through Piazza Carlo Alberto, Piazza Spreitenbach and Via Audisio, with cheesemakers from every Italian region and from countries including France, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, the UK and Sweden. Many are Slow Food Presidia, small producers of rare cheeses that Slow Food supports. Alongside the cheese there are natural cured meats, honey, preserves, street food, regional food trucks and Italian craft beer.

The Gran Sala, a hall for wine, cheese and salumi, paired raw milk cheeses and cured meats with more than 300 wines in 2025. More than 350 events filled the programme: talks, show cooking with Slow Food Alliance chefs, family activities and events by the University of Gastronomic Sciences in nearby Pollenzo.

Tickets

Walking the market has been free in past editions. The Laboratori del Gusto, guided tastings led by cheesemakers and experts, are ticketed and sell out ahead: several had sold out before the 2025 festival opened. Book them as soon as the programme appears on the festival's website.

Getting There and Staying

Bra is in the province of Cuneo, south of Turin, and has a railway station. With hundreds of thousands of visitors over four days, rooms in Bra and the nearby Langhe and Roero fill early. Bra's tourist office is at Piazza Caduti della Libertà 20, phone 0172 430185.

In the Years Between

Bra is still a good base for cheese in the off years: Bra DOP cheese is named after the town, and Castelmagno is made in the Valle Grana to the southwest, where the producers' cooperative in Pradleves sells it. In Emilia-Romagna, the Caseifici Aperti weekend in May is the closest thing to a festival for Parmigiano.